ORLANDO – The pattern with which the Orlando Magic continue to suffer gut-wrenching losses – playing well for long stretches to build significant leads only to see those advantages wither away with poor closing stretches – have the key players involved seemingly at their breaking points.
Frustrations continued to mount for the Magic on Tuesday after they led at the start of the fourth quarter and by a basket with nine minutes to play. However, when Orlando’s defense struggled down the stretch, their ball movement turned nonexistent and their shoulders slumped, the result was a defeat that felt like many of the ones that preceded this one.
The Magic used a 28-5 run in the third quarter to grab the lead, but all that did was intensify their frustration after they were no match for Paul George, Russell Westbrook and Dennis Schroder in the fourth quarter of a 126-117 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
After Orlando (20-31) lost for a fourth straight time and a seventh time in the past eight games, center Nikola Vucevic talked about a season slipping away, Aaron Gordon returned to the Amway Center court for a late-night shooting session and head coach Steve Clifford ranted about his team’s alternating issues offensively and defensively.
``It’s kind of the story of our season – we don’t maintain what works for us for 48 minutes,’’ said Vucevic, who was brilliant despite the defeat with 27 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and two blocked shots. ``It’s very disappointing and very tough to deal with. A week ago, we were right there (in the playoff chase) and now it’s a much bigger hole that we’ve got ourselves into.
``If we were going out there and getting blown out by teams, we’d be like `All right, we just don’t have it.’ But it’s really stuff we should be able to take care of, but we don’t do it consistently,’’ Vucevic added. ``There have been so many games where we’ve had the lead and controlled the game and we’ve let it slip. So, it’s frustrating.’’
Early on, Orlando had few answers for George (37 points, six rebounds and four assists) or Westbrook (23 points, 14 rebounds and 14 assists for his 17th triple-double of the season). Those players cooled off in the third period, allowing the Magic to grab a 94-91 lead by the start of the fourth quarter. That seemed to be a good sign as Orlando had been 15-6 this season when leading after three periods.
However, Schroder made his first seven shots of the fourth quarter and scored 18 of his 21 points over the final 12 minutes to lead OKC (32-18) to a come-from-behind victory. What galled Clifford the most was the manner in which the Magic came unglued late in the night, especially in the areas of transition defense and shot selection offensively.
``When you’re not going to run back on every single possession – which takes no talent, by the way; all it takes is effort – whether you missed a shot, got your shot blocked or thought you got fouled … you got to run back,’’ Clifford fumed. ``Number two, the first-quarter fouling was ridiculous, just crazy. … For a bunch of smart guys, it’s crazy and it’s stupid, losing basketball.’’
Clifford was just getting started, eventually turning his focus to a Magic offense that made just nine of 25 shots with only four assists in the fourth period.
``We haven’t been like this for a while, but that was the first time in the fourth quarter where we reverted back to, `we’re not going to pass the ball to each other.’’’
With Orlando up 101-98 with 9:04 remaining, OKC grabbed control of the game by scoring the next 10 points. That run started with a 3-pointer from Schroder and a layup by Westbrook in which he simply outran the Magic defense down the floor.
``They all had it going. We weren’t doing anything on defense or running back,’’ said Gordon, who had 16 points, nine rebounds and seven assists despite making just six of 19 shots and only two of nine 3-point shots. ``(The Thunder) got off to hot starts and we just weren’t getting back in transition.’’
Added Evan Fournier, who scored 14 of his 17 points in the first half: ``We’re not moving the ball well and not getting quality shots, but I think part of that was our defense couldn’t get any stops. Somewhere in the fourth quarter, they threw a lob from half court and (Nerlens Noel) was by himself in the paint. To me, that’s where we lost the game – on defense.’’
Orlando shot 43.1 percent from the floor and made 14 of 41 3-pointers. Terrence Ross chipped in 16 off the bench. Magic guard Jerian Grant (five points, three rebounds and two assists) played well while facing brother Jerami Grant (18 points, seven rebounds and three steals). Their father, Harvey Grant – the twin brother of Magic legend Horace Grant – was among the 16,341 in attendance at the Amway Center to watch two of his four sons square off.
The Magic came into Tuesday 4 ½ games back of the No. 8 seed and, according to BasketballReference.com, they possessed a slim 4.5 percent chance of making the playoffs. That was the 11th best total in the Eastern Conference, significantly behind that of the eighth-seeded Miami Heat (74.3 percent), No. 9 Detroit Pistons (28 percent) and No. 10 Washington (17.9 percent).
Clifford said prior to Tuesday’s game that he planned to address the Magic’s playoff chances with the club prior to the team’s practice on Wednesday. Two factors still in the Magic’s favor going down the stretch: Their remaining schedule is considered to be the sixth easiest in the NBA and 16 games remain against teams currently outside of the playoff race.
``So, (Wednesday) is going to be – regardless of what happens (on Tuesday) – about, `this is where we’re at, this is what we have going forward and if we want to play in meaningful games, this is what has to happen,’’’ Clifford said.
Orlando came into Tuesday having played in 30 ``close games,’’ which the NBA defines as games where the score is within five points over the final five minutes of play. The 30 ``close games’’ are the most by any NBA team and the Magic have gone 13-17 in those tight games. Also, seven of the Magic’s eight games prior to Tuesday were ``close games’’ and they were 3-5 in that stretch.
It looked as if Tuesday would feature another ``close game’’ after the way the Magic rallied and closed out the third period in stirring fashion.
With his Magic down six at intermission, Clifford called time out 58 seconds into the third to head off an OKC run. When the Thunder surged ahead 81-66 things certainly looked bleak for the Magic. But that’s when they launched a 28-5 run that completely turned the game around. That impressive surge allowed Orlando to take a 94-91 lead into the final period.
After surrendering 31 points to George in the first half, Orlando held the star forward scoreless in the third period. George missed all three of his shots and two free throws in the 12 minutes after halftime.
The fourth period was mostly devoid of drama because of Orlando’s woes early on both ends of the floor in the final 12 minutes.
``We just had bad offense,’’ said Terrence Ross, who had 16 points, six rebounds and four 3-pointers in nearly 32 minutes. ``We didn’t move the ball well enough. We kind of took ourselves out of our own rhythm and that really bit us.’’
Tuesday’s game was the first of two meetings between the Magic and Thunder in a week. The two teams play in Oklahoma City next Tuesday.
Tuesday was also the start of a critical three-game home stand for the Magic where they won’t leave Orlando for a week. The Magic will host Indiana on Thursday and Brooklyn on Saturday.
Orlando was mostly defenseless in the first half against George and Westbrook, leading to a season-worst 69 points allowed over the opening 24 minutes. The Magic trailed 69-63 at intermission thanks to some strong offensive play from Vucevic (17 points) and Fournier (14 points). OKC’s 69 first-half points exceeded the previous high of 66 against the Magic in a first half, a mark set twice earlier in the season.
That the Magic were eventually able to make a game of it spoke volumes about how well they played in the third quarter. That they found a way to squander another game in the fourth period spoke volumes about where the team’s confidence level is right now.
``We’re just not being consistent, man, and it’s frustrating for sure,’’ Fournier said. ``We need to play with more confidence down the stretch, not worrying about the score and playing the way we play early in games. Just play with confidence and play with swagger, and we definitely don’t have it right now.’’
Note: The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Orlando Magic. All opinions expressed by John Denton are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Orlando Magic or their Basketball Operations staff, partners or sponsors.